How do I explain to a 5 year old that I would rather donate money to charity than give them presents?

Answer 1

Charity begins at home. Get your priorities straight!

Answer 2

I think it's absolutely great to want to give to charity, but at the same time how would you feel if you were a kid (of any age, even up to 18) and your parents said that they didn't want to buy you any presents. There are many ways to teach your child about kindness and giving without completely crushing them at Christmas time.
If it's an issue of money, that you can only do one or the other- charity or presents, donate your time to charity (thats very valuable as well) and spend your money on your child... your little one whos only going to get a chance to be little once.

Answer 3

Why does it have to be one thing or the other? My nearly 5 year old understands about giving and sharing. He voluntarily offers his old toys to charity shops and asks to give them to a child 'who needs them more' but it doesn't mean he goes without either. It's a balance. I don't spend a fortune on the kids.So there should be plenty to go around. Buy an inexpensive present for the 5 year old AND donate to charity. Alternatively you could buy one of those charity gifts for the child and explain it to them. We received some gorgeous Unicef products for Christmas this year including a Unicef toy lorry and plastic bowl and plate. Everyone's a winner.

Answer 4

Buy him a couple of presents then allow him to go to the store and pick out 5 presents (one for every year of his life) and allow him to experience giving them away. This will show him that giving is just as important than receiving.

It's what I do with my 9 and 5 year old. At first it was a struggle but now they enjoy seeing the expression on others faces when they are giving gifts to charity.

Answer 5

Although my 6 year old son and 3 year old daughter are both getting their fair share of presents, we did donate a lot of toys to a local shelter. To help them understand why, we told them what we were doing, explained to them that not everyone is as fortunate as they are, then took them shopping to pick out the toys. Two very full cartloads later, we took the toys straight to the shelter so that our kids could see some of the children they were benefiting. They can't wait to do it again, and have already mentioned giving away some of the presents that are under the tree.

Answer 6

You can't. Maybe give them the presents this christmas, and then, during the new year, talk to them about those that are les fortunate. Maybe make it a fun thing like giving him your spare change to put into a jar and when it's full the two of you could go and donate it. He will be more likely to understand it if he is part of the process and can experience the giving part.

Answer 7

I understand completely. My daughter gets lots of love and attention. She also gets presents throughout the year as little tokens of our love and support. However we can't help but feel that we are very lucky to be healthy, have a roof over our head, to have her and her to have us and we wish others could be that lucky. Your child is not too young. Never underestimate the ability of a child to understand. You just need to explain the world to your child with words he can understand. Get his opinion on which charity should receive your donation. What is important to him?. That doesn't mean you don't get to give him a present as well, but there is no need to go overboard.
It is the season of giving, and you're doing just that!

Answer 8

Five year old children are still self-centered (especially today's children!) They're so caught up with what they've seen on tv and the commercialism of Christmas. They will not understand your humanitarian reasons for cutting them out of the gift-giving because they don't have the emotional or psychological maturity. In fact, any child under age 10 should not be ignored at a major gift-giving event.


Although it is a very good time for you to introduce to them the joys of giving to others, by letting them help you choose a gift for Toys for Tots, perhaps, or taking a bag of canned goods to the food bank. Five year olds require tangible, visible demonstrations of loving.
You didn't say how you knew or were related to this child. If you are his parent, godparent, relative of any kind, etiquette and common sense requires a gift of some kind from you to him. Otherwise you will have a hurt child and unforgiving parents to deal with. Even if this child has an overabundance of gifts, you still need to find something small and age-appropriate.

Noone will begrudge your decision to donate the majority of your gift-giving money to charity, but to ignore a small child is to be mean spirited.

Answer 9

You would what??? You cruel heartless **** Christmas is special for children, just cos you think you would like to help someone else fine, but don't deny a 5 year old his/her treat cos it sounds like the only one they are gonna get. I'm all for charities, but a 5 year old won't understand what he/she has done wrong as to why everybody they know has new toys and they haven't. Way to go at ruining someones childhood! Oh and before you start about how Christmas isn't about presents I know that, everyone from around 8/9 years old knows but a 5 year old will have trouble understanding so don't be cruel get them something AND donate to charity.

Answer 10

Our family does the exact same thing and you know what its not SELFISH that you don't give your kids stuff when I am sure they already have tons of it. What we did with our kids is we picked some tags from an Angel Tree and they went to the store with us and picked out the "gifts" for those who do not have any. My children recieve gifts all through the year so they are definitly not deprived and they are great rewards for when they actually earned them as opposed to just being given to them. You can just say that we are giving to those who do not have and if they ask for specifics the internet is a great place to start by showing them what other people who do not live in this wonderful place we call America are lacking such as basic living standards like running water, regular food, heat, warm clothes. This is always a wonderful opportunity to learn at any age what giving instead of getting does for others and also for yourself.

Answer 11

I would rather answer a question of someone more needy of an answer but as it is Christmas, I am answering yours too.

There's a moral in there somewhere!

You don't mention if the 5 year old is your child but I think that is too young to understand. You should give presents to the child and donate to charity.

Merry Christmas
Peace on earth and Goodwill to all